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Sunday, November 13, 2011

The Show Stealer

This has been the season of the "Who was that guy" for the New York Ranger and New York Islander prospects. On Sunday it was supposed to be Chris Kreider (NYR 2009 1st) and his 2nd ranked Boston College Eagles rolling all over Corey Trivino (NYI 2008 2nd) and the Boston University Terriers.

Just like when the Rangers and Islanders play; you toss away the stats and the team records because these are 2 very bitter crosstown rivals. Trivino with a goal and a assist helped Boston University whip Boston College 5-0 on Boston College's home ice.

Boston University jumped all over Boston College right from the opening faceoff and it paid off. Just 54 seconds into the game, Trivino scored the only goal that Boston University would really need.

It was a well played score as Trivino entered the offensive zone as the 3rd man high in the slot, took a pass and fired a blast for his his 6th goal of the season. The goal energized Boston University as they took the game to Boston College all game long.

Trivino earned a secondary assist on the second goal of the game which was scored in the last minute of the first period at 19:13 and really this game was over. Boston College simply never got any kind of momentum going and did not help their own cause when they failed to score on any of the 8 power plays they had in this game.

Kreider was a total non-factor in this game limited to just 1 shot on goal for the game. Kreider was not alone as his teammates simply did not play a smart game as Boston University took the game to them and kept the pressure up all the way to the final buzzer.

John Persson (NYI 2011 5th) scored a goal to extend both his goal scoring streak (7 goals in 6 games) and his scoring streak (8-9-17 in 8 games) but his Red Deer Rebels fell in the shootout to the Victoria Royals 4-3. Persson missed on his shootout attempt but despite losing in the shootout, the Rebels were able to move into first place in the WHL's Central Divison.

This game was back and forth as Persson gave Red Deer what appeared to be the game winning goal at 3:08 in 3rd period. It was Persson's 11th goal of the season and 27th point of the season (16th in the WHL for scoring) but Victoria tied the game up at 19:24 to force overtime.

JT Miller (NYR 2011 1st) had an assist for his Ranger prospect leading 25th point as his Plymouth Whalers just destroyed the Erie Otters 7-1 for their 4th straight win. Miller earned his 14th assist when he set up Stefan Noesen for a power play goal in the 2nd period.

Miller has points now in his last 4 straight games (3-4-7) and the closer we get to the World Under-20 tournament the more we see Miller with a strong case to earn a spot on Team USA.

Andrey Pedan (NYI 2011 3rd) 5th goal of the season tied the game up at 2-2 but his Guelph Storm lost in the shootout 3-2 to the Kitchener Rangers to extend their winless streak to 4 games. Pedan also had a secondary assist on the Storm's first goal but also kept alive a streak that we kind of wish he would break.

Pedan has taken at least 1 penalty a game in each of his last 8 games (26 PIMs) and if you want to be a top pair defender that is not the kind of stat you want your coach to see. In this game Pedan took a double minor for highsticking which thankfully for Pedan did not cost the Storm any power play goals.

Pedan has good size (6'4 200) and you can see there is skill but no coach is going to trust you in key situations if you have a rep for taking penalties. Pedan is 5-6-11 in 17 games which is 1 point fewer than he had all last season in 51 games.

Samuel Noreau (NYR 2011 5th) and his Baie-Comeau Drakkar faced the Saint John Sea Dogs for the 3rd time in their last 5 games. And for the 3rd straight time the Drakkar lost to the Sea Dogs this time 5-3 as this one had to be the most frustrating loss of the 3.

The Drakkar held the Sea Dogs to just 16 shots but it still was not good enough to prevent the Drakkar's 7th loss in their last 10 games. Noreau was scoreless, a -2 and his 4th fight of the season.

The wheels we sadly fear have come off on the Drakkar as they have fallen to 10th in the QMJHL standings.

Finally Christian Thomas (NYR 2010 2nd) served the last game of his 10 game suspension and can return to action for the Oshawa Generals. We still feel that the 10 games seriously did not fit the "crime" but what is done is done.

Thomas is listed on the roster for Team OHL when they face Team Russia Monday evening in Game 4 of the Subway Super Series.